web design & development, etc.

Five Great WordPress Plugins, Volume Two

In my first list I covered a few great WordPress plugins including SlideDeck and Updraft Plus. In the year that has slipped away since, so many have surfaced, improved and continued to stand the test of time. Here are a few more plugins that I use and recommend considering.

JetPack by WordPress.com
This plugin brings some of the great stuff you find at WordPress.com to those who host elsewhere. It has perhaps the only good choice for spell-checking in the rich text editor. It features modules for contact forms, custom CSS, analytics, email distribution of posts and automated integration with social media. If you’re migrating from WordPress.com and want to preserve functionalities like their Like system it’s absolutely essential. In short, it does a lot and can obviate the need for a number of other plugins and/or services.

Relevanssi
This replaces the standard WordPress search functionality with something better. It has features including sorting by weighted relevancy, fuzzy matching, AND/OR operators, quotes and throttling. The premium version is required for Multisite configuration.

Olimometer
This is a fundraising thermometer with custom skins and both horizontal and vertical orientations. It also integrates with PayPal and StayClassy. It’s certainly not for everybody, but those who are seeking donations and need something like this will really appreciate it.

WordPress SEO by Yoast
Just by installing this plugin you’ll make solid forward progress in search engine optimizing your site, but by fully configuring it and using it to write better content, you can really take SEO with WordPress to the next level. It has features including XML sitemaps, RSS optimization, breadcrumbs, social integration and an editor for your robots.txt and .htaccess files. It’s written by renowned plugin author Joost De Valk and his team at Yoast.

Conditional CAPTCHAQuite simply, this plugin asks commenters to complete a simple CAPTCHA if they haven’t previously posted a comment that was approved or if Akismet (provided you use it on your site) thinks their comment smells spammy. It supports reCAPTCHA integration and style customization. It’s a great way to reduce spam with limited hassle for your readers.